Should Smart Cities Introduce a New Form of Public Transport Vehicles?

Abstract

This study shows the concept of an innovative road and rail vehicle as a new form of public transport. Our literature review shows that the idea of a “smart city” contains not only new tools but also vehicles or infrastructure. The new vehicle is proposed based on the observed development of urban public transport means and other novel solutions. A slight innovation proposed here could allow the use of typical and operated tram routes for modified buses. A new type of vehicle could use both the existing tram routes and newly constructed sections with no tracks. It is assumed that new vehicles would drive with trams on the same, shared tracks. All of the conditions should reduce the costs of developing public transport networks in many cities where tram networks already exist. This paper contains a description of the idea and a potential case study location. The implementation conditions are outlined in the Discussion section. The title’s question is also considered there: “Should smart cities introduce a new form of public transport vehicles?” In addition, the potential benefits as well as threats are presented. Conclusions define the next steps for the research. So, this paper is an introduction to the wider research. It will popularize the idea of a new vehicle and could motivate the industry to construct a prototype. At this stage, no models or detailed calculations were conducted.